Drier



March 30, 1954 E. H. SMITH ,7 7

DRIER Filed May' 24. 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

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E. H. SMITH March 30, 1954 DRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 24, 1952 INVENTOR. W I

Patented Mar. 30, 1 954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Manufacturing Comp tion of Pennsylvania any, Erie, Pa., a corpora- Application May 24, 1952, Serial No. 289,728

1 Claim. 1

This invention is intended to provide a tumbler type clothes dryer, which can be interchangeably heated with gas or electricity. In the gas heating, the burner is located beneath a lower quadrant of the drum casing and a hood extending up around the outside of the drum casing to an inlet in an upper quadrant of the casing conducts the products of combustion with some additional air into the drum casing. With electric heat, the heating element likewise starts beneath the lower drum quadrant and extends up around the drum casing to the air inlet. The hood which conducts the products of combustion into the drum casing when the dryer is heated by gas serves to conduct air into the drum casing when electric heat is used.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective of a dryer, Fig. 2 is a back view of the gas fired dryer with part of the cabinet removed to show the internal construction, Fig. 3 is a sectional front elevation of the gas fired dryer, and Fig. 4 is a sectional front elevation of the same dryer construction provided with an electric heating element.

In the drawing, 1 indicates the dryer cabinet having a door 2 at the front through which clothes are loaded and unloaded into a horizontal cylindrical perforated drum 3. In the upper right hand corner is diagrammatically indicated the dryer control 4. As shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and 3, the cabinet is supported on a base 5, at the back of which is an upright post 6 having a bearing 1 in which the drum 3 is journaled. The drum is driven by a motor 8 through a double belt reduction 9 and [0.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 3, the drum is surrounded or enclosed by a generally cylindrical casing ll having an air inlet opening l2 in an upper quadrant of the casing, and an air outlet opening l3 in a lower quadrant diametrically opposite the inlet l2. The outlet opening I3 is connected to a fan l4 driven by a belt from the motor and discharging air out through an opening H5 at the front of the dryer. The parts so far described are or may be of conventional construction.

In both the gas fired and electrically heated dryers shown in Figs. 3 and 4, there is a hood I! having its upper end discharging into the inlet opening I2 and its lower end l8 depending into a lower quadrant of the casing directly beneath the inlet opening [2. The hood defines in conjunction with the outer surface of the casing ll, an air passageway open at its lower end and extending up around the outside of the casing ll into the inlet opening l2. This passageway draws air from adjacent the bottom of the dryer cabinet I. By having inlet louvers IS in the upper part of the dryer cabinet the air which flows into the lower end of the hood I1 is to a considerable extent pre-heated by contact with the outer surface of the casing II and the hood ll. The heat from these surfaces, which would otherwise be wasted, is transferred to the air and utilized to aid the drying operation.

In the gas fired dryer shown in Fig. 3, the heat for the dryer is supplied by a burner 20 located within the lower end 18 of the hood l1 and arranged so that the products of combustion of the burner flame 2| impinge against the casing and naturally flow up along the lower quadrant of the casing and into the inlet opening 12. Because the gas burner is arranged beneath the easing, the products of combustion, which naturally tend to rise are brought into good heat exchange contact with the outer surface of the casing H. The heat imparted to the portion of the casing enclosed by the hood I1 is transferred by radiation to the perforate drum and assists in the drying of the clothes. The heat transferred to the casing II has the further function of reducing the temperature of the hot gases. This means that it is not necessary to introduce additional cooling air for the purpose of reducing the gas temperature, so as to prevent scorching of the clothes by the hot gases discharged through the inlet [2.

In the electrically heated dryer, shown in Fig. 4, there is an electric heating element 22 outside the casing and within the hood I'l, so that it extends from a lower quadrant of the casing up around the drum to the inlet opening 12. Since the electric heating element 22 is outside the casing ll, heat is radiated directly to the outer surface of the casing and re-radiated to the perforate drum 3. Heat which is transferred to the adjacent surface of the hood I! is used to preheat the air fiowing up through the hood into the inlet H.

In both the gas and electric dryers, air is drawn into the cabinet through louvers [9 in the upper part thereof and flows over the outside of the drum casing l I and over the outside of the hood I! into the lower end I8 of the hood adjacent the bottom of the cabinet. From here the air flows up through the hood into the inlet opening l2 and diagonally across the perforate drum to the outlet opening 13 connected to the exhaust fan [4. In the gas fired dryer, shown in Fig. 3, the air admitted to the lower end [8 of the hood I1 is used to supply combustion air to the burner 20, and also to provide heated air which will pick up moisture from the clothes as it flows diagonally across the drum 3. In the electrically heated dryer shown in Fig. 4, the air admitted to the lower end [8 of the hood is used to prevent excessive heat loss from the heating element 22 by being heated by contact with the outer surface of the casing II and the inner and outer surfaces of the hood. The heated air, which flows into the inlet opening H at the upper end of the hood flows diagonally across the drum and picks up moisture from the tumbling clothes. In both forms of dryer, the cabinet temperatures are low because air is continually being withdrawn from the upper part of the cabinet where the hottest air would naturally tend to be.

What I claim as new is:

In a gas fired clothes dryer of the type having a horizontal clothes receiving drum, a first casing around the drum, a gas burner beneath the first casing, a flue Wall extending upward from the burner and confining the products of combus- 4 tion between the flue wall and the first casing, an opening in the first casing above the burner conducting the products of combustion into the interior of the drum, a second casing outside the first casing and spaced from the flue wall having an air inlet above said opening and extending down below the burner and defining a duct conducting preheated air to the burner, an outlet from the drum, and a fan for causing the flow of air into the first and second casings and past the burner and into the drum along with the products of combustion.

ELLWOOD H. SMITH.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,427,580 Collins Aug. 29, 1922 20 2,106,462 Lindberg Jan. 25, 1938 2,460,422 Koppel Feb. 1, 1949 2,506,517 Moore May 2, 1950 

